Poker Night
by hind1252
Summary: Riley and Gabriel are asked to go on an undercover mission where they must pose as a married couple who betrayed the U.S. government in order to gain the trust of the Chinese mafia. What happens when things take a turn for the worse? COMPLETE. Thanks to everyone who's read this story! I hope you've enjoyed it!
1. The Mission

**A/N: Hey guys This is a random story that popped into my head one day and I just had to write it down. It's a multi-fic so let me know what you think. BTW the name of the Triad leader is just a joke, I don't mean to offend anybody I just thought it would be funny. Enjoy!**

**Poker Night**

"It's important for the details discussed today to remain between us," Lilian starts. "No one is to speak a word of this to anyone, am I clear?" As everyone nods she continues, "There's been a recent breakout of mafia activity. As you probably know, the Chinese mafia has been slowly transferring their members to the United States. As of 11:00 pm last night, our contacts have informed us of a meeting taking place tomorrow night at an underground poker establishment. Sum Ting Phun, the leader of the Triad is supposedly making an appearance. No one in the U.S. government has ever seen him. Gabriel, I need you and Riley to go undercover as a wealthy couple and find out what this Sum Ting Phun looks like. If we can get a visual on him, the CIA will have a better chance of tracking more breakouts around the country.

Gabriel looks over at Riley with a questioning glance and notices the same puzzled expression on her face.

"If it's an undercover Chinese meeting how are we, two Americans, supposed to sneak in?" Gabriel asks.

"You won't be sneaking in; the meeting is invite only," Lilian says, "You will be taking the places of two undercover CIA agents that have been following the mafia for 2 years now."

"Won't the members of the Triad recognize that we aren't those two agents?" Riley chimes in.

"No, the contact between the CIA and the Triad has been strictly written conversations. There will be a few more undercover CIA agents there, so you won't be alone. I assure you if this was a dangerous mission I wouldn't have volunteered you. All you have to do is get in, identify the leader and get out"

"Sounds easy enough, do we have undercover names?" Gabriel asks "And how will they know it's us?"

Lilian grabs a folder from a nearby desk and hands it to Gabriel. "In there you will find everything you need to know. For this mission you'll be using your own names. The mafia has no information on you other than the fact that you are a married couple who serve together for the government. In the folder you will find a list of dialogue exchanged between the CIA agents and the Triad. Memorize it. The location is also in the folder along with information you need to get in."

Riley approaches Gabriel and begins scanning the pages alongside him.

"You need to realize that there will be a hundred Chinese Triad members in that room. One wrong move and you're dead." Lilian warns.

Gabriel looks up from the folder with a wry smile on his face. "I thought you said you wouldn't put us in danger?"

With a serious expression on her face, Lilian answers "I lied, unfortunately your job will always put you in harm's way, my job is to make sure you're as prepared as possible."

"We will be" Riley says with a certain confidence that only she could muster. She notices Gabriel smile at her comment from the corner of her eye.

"Yeah, I mean with Riley here, who could be in danger?" Gabriel says in a low sarcastic voice that makes Riley roll her eyes. He glances over at her and notices a hint of a smile. "Don't worry, we'll be ready."

* * *

After the meeting with Lilian, Gabriel and Riley start heading home to prepare for the assignment. As Riley drives the car, she notices Gabriel reading the folder. "Wow, look at that, Gabriel is actually studying. I honestly thought you would just wing the whole thing."

He chuckles, "Did I disappoint you?"

She looks back towards the road, "Not more than usual."

Gabriel smiles at her comment, after a few moments he says, "Are you nervous?"

Riley almost scoffs, "Why would I be nervous?"

"Gosh, well I don't know, I mean you are about to be married to the most charmingly handsome man alive." He says with a cheeky grin.

Riley starts laughing, "I'm sorry what? Did that really come out of your mouth?"

"Come on admit it I'm pretty handsome aren't I?"

She rolls her eyes, "Your pretty something alright, but it isn't handsome."

"Ouch, Riley you know you can be pretty hurtful sometimes." He says with a little bit of sarcasm.

"Oh I'm sorry did that bruise your ego?"

"A little bit"

Riley laughs a little.

"You know you're going to need to be nicer to me if we're going to be married." He looks over at her, waiting for a response but it doesn't come. "Riley?"

"Are you sure you're ok with this? You know pretending to be married? I mean after all you've been through with… Amelia, I just don't want to step on any toes." She looks over at him to make sure he understands what she's trying to say. He looks away for a second, remembering the event in his mind. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No it's ok, I'm fine. We can do this." He pauses, "I'm just worried that you won't be able to take your hands off of me." He says, trying to lighten the mood. He gives her a smile to show her he's ok.

She rolls her eyes and smiles back at him then, she puts her attention back on the road.

* * *

**A/N: So? What did you think? I know it's a bit short but I already have the whole thing planned out. Let me know what you think :)**


	2. Something's Off

**A/N: Hey guys, here's chapter 2. Hope you enjoy!**

Gabriel looks over at the clock on the counter, 5:47 p.m. "That sounds stupid"

"What do you mean that sounds stupid? That's our cover!" Gabriel is starting to get on Riley's nerves. "Listen Gabriel, we don't have time to argue over this, we're heading out in an hour and we need to have this completely memorized."

"It's already memorized, come on you can't have already forgotten about them chip?" He says sarcastically.

"Oh wow," she pauses, "I'm going to kill him."

Gabriel laughs which makes Riley roll her eyes. "Oh alright I'll stop, why are you so wound up anyway?"

This earns him a glare "Why am I so wound up? You do realize that in about an hour, you and I are going to be in a room full of people who wouldn't think twice about shooting our heads off… and that's before they find out we're feds." She sighs, "We need to get this down, I can't protect you if you won't even try to be careful."

Gabriel notices the sincerity in her voice and smiles. "Okay, I'm sorry, you're right let's go over everything for tonight."

Relieved that he's willing to cooperate, Riley grabs the mission folder from a nearby desk and opens it. "Okay, so from the personal files that Lilian gave us, it looks like the two CIA agents, John Kerry and Kim Roy, weren't actually married." She reads on, "looks like they posed as a married couple for this mission so that if they were to ever get a meeting with the Triad, they could go as a pair, and would essentially have a backup for the mission: each other. That's kind of genius, don't you think?"

"No, like I said, it's stupid. Think about it, instead of only putting one agent in harm's way, they put two. What if they had been caught? Do you really think that her partner could have single handedly gotten them both out alive?"

"That's the whole point of having two agents go in, so that if one gets in trouble, the other helps. It's a system, one that we will be using tonight. So, if you don't mind I'd appreciate it if you didn't discriminate against the plan." After a moment she adds, "And what makes you so sure the girl would have been caught? Maybe John messes up and Kim has to go to his rescue like she does over and over and over again." She says with a grin.

Gabriel laughs, "moving on," he opens the file in the chip and begins scrolling through the feed. "Okay, so it looks like the agents were in contact with the Triad for almost 27 months." He pauses to read, "hmm, well that's odd."

"What?"

Gabriel reads over the file a few more times, "It looks like the last few months there hadn't been that much communication. It's like they were talking on a daily basis for a year and a half," he scrolls down through the recorded conversations, "then right around the 19th month, the conversations begin to thin out. Look at February through September. Only four recorded conversations."

"Yeah, that is odd," she says as she scans her copy of the files.

"And look, they don't even talk about government secrets; they're talking about some sort of puzzle box?" He rereads the last few conversations in his head. "The last message they received comes out of the blue. It just says: "Triad wants a meeting, 7pm the Loki Dragons Club this Wednesday, bring the item."

"Do you think it's a trap?"

"I'm not sure, I'm pulling up security video from the club, nothing looks out of the ordinary, it's just a club… Oh wait, it looks like there's a back room. Let me just pull up the blueprints… oh crap."

"What's wrong?" she waits, "Gabriel talk to me, what's going on?"

"It looks like the blueprints don't show the back room; which is odd. Why would they try to hide this one room the a club?"

"Unless it's not just one room…" she looks over at him and sees that he's come to the same conclusion. "So what you're saying is that, when we step through that door, you won't know where we are? What about the satellite? Couldn't you get an overview of the whole club with it?"

"I've already tried, the satellite is a few hundred miles away, it would take approximately three hours to get it in place. I'm telling Nelson to get it set up now." After a minute he sighs "Okay, I was right; Nelson says it's going to be about 9 p.m. before I can get a clear image from it." He looks over at the clock again: 6:02 p.m. "We don't have much time, we're just gonna have to wing it."

Riley looks over at him, "I hate when you say that."

* * *

6:48 p.m.

Gabriel and Riley are parked outside the club. "Did you already inform Lilian about our suspicions?" Gabriel asks.

"Yeah, she's looking into it. But, since this is the only opportunity we have to identify Mr. Phun, she said to go ahead with the plan," she looks over at him and sees him deep in thought.

"On the bright side we do have other agents in there that can help us out if we need it," he says.

"I don't like this, something's off"

Gabriel looks at the clock on the dashboard, "Too late to back out now. Come on lets go."

Riley steps out of the vehicle first and waits for Gabriel to catch up to her. She watches him come around the vehicle, never taking his eyes off the club, then stand next to her.

Riley looks over to where Gabriel was looking, "Do you have the puzzle piece? We need it to get in"

"Yeah, it's in my…" He glances over at her and for the first time all night he notices what she's wearing. "Have you been wearing that this whole time?"

Riley is wearing a long classy black dress that seems to hug her curves just right. She notices him look her over a few seconds too long before looking back at the club with a small smile on his face. She looks away slightly, her face a little burnt.

"No, I got dressed in the car," she says after she had recovered from the last comment.

Gabriel turns his head quickly and looks at her with a puzzled face, "Are you serious?" He says as he quickly scans his memory of the car ride.

"No, of course I didn't get dressed in the car." She looks over at him, "Are you seriously trying to remember the car ride?"

"What? No." He smiles at her, "Besides I think it's kind of sweet you would dress up just to impress me."

Riley laughs, "Well one of us had to look good," she scoffs.

Gabriel laugh but doesn't take his eyes off her. "Are you ready?" he says as he holds out his arm for her to link with.

Riley takes his arm, "As ready as I'll ever be."

They make their way to what looks like the only entrance to the club. Riley takes note of her surroundings. A strong featured man stands in front of the door of the club holding a clipboard. He seems to be the bouncer. There's a line of eager well-dressed people waiting in line to get into the club. They must not realize it's a secret underground hideout.

Once Gabriel and Riley make it to the club, they immediately walk around the line and make their way toward the bouncer. They hear the people in line complain about their need to wait in line like the rest of them.

The bouncer doesn't even look up from the clipboard, "Back of the line." Gabriel and Riley exchange looks.

Gabriel takes out the puzzle piece that was found in the mission folder and places it on the bouncer's clipboard. "We need to get in" he says in a strong voice.

The bouncer quickly looks up at Gabriel with an apologetic look. "I'm sorry sir, go right ahead." But instead of moving aside to let them in, he gestures towards a small door hidden behind a neon sign. "Just through that door."

Gabriel nods and grabs the puzzle piece from the clipboard before he starts moving again. As they walk towards the small door, Riley looks over at Gabriel. "Did he seem a little…"

"Terrified? Yeah, I wonder why."

"I don't like this," Riley says as Gabriel opens the door to let her in.


	3. Badass

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait but this chapter took a long time. I want to thank DaughterOfPoseidon333 for letting me use one of her ideas from her story Tell Me What You Feel. You're awesome and I love your stories! BTW please read the ending author's note for a special surprise! Thanks guys enjoy!

* * *

The first thing they notice when they walk in is the lack of lighting. The only light source is a line of small flickering light bulbs hanging loosely from the ceiling. The second thing they notice is that this 'room' isn't a room at all, it's a creepy hallway that's just big enough for them to walk in comfortably.

"Well this is creepy," Riley says in a hushed tone. They slowly begin to walk down the hallway. "Do you hear that?"

"What?" Gabriel says as he tries to listen to whatever it is Riley's hearing.

"Nothing," she whispers, "no loud music. Shouldn't we be able to hear the club?"

"Soundproof," Gabriel guessed, "probably to drown out the gun shots. This really is a nice place to murder someone. They put a lot of thought into this."

Riley looks over at him with a disapproving expression. "This is not the time for jokes"

"I'm just saying, if the soundproof walls didn't drown out the sound, the club music defiantly would."

The hallway ends at a wooden staircase that leads down to a metal door. Riley sighs, "I really don't like this."

At the bottom of the stairs, Gabriel notices a slot towards the top of the door. He reaches over and knocks on the door. After about a minute of waiting, he tries knocking again. This time the slot opens abruptly and two black eyes stare back at him.

"The password?" The man behind the door asks in Mandarin.

Gabriel and Riley exchange glances. What password? The file didn't say anything about a password. Gabriel reaches into his pocket and pulls out the puzzle piece. It worked before. He holds the puzzle piece in front of the door's open slot. For a second the man doesn't even look at the puzzle piece, he just stares at Gabriel inquisitively. After he glances at the puzzle piece, he slams the slot shut. A few metallic sounds can be heard as the man behind the door unlocks the door and opens it.

The smell of cigarette smoke is almost unbearable. There's a thick layer of smoke in the air that makes Riley unable to see anything but a few tables and a number of well-toned men. The man that had let them in is nowhere to be seen.

As they step closer, Riley takes Gabriel's arm and links her arm with it, mostly to not lose him in all the smoke. "Can you see anything?" Riley whispers in Gabriel's ear as they continue walking. The farther they get from the door, the clearer it gets and the more people they can see staring at them.

Once they are somewhere in the middle of the room and he had adjusted to the excessive smoke, Gabriel starts taking in his surroundings. The room itself looks to be the size of a soccer field. The floor is covered with blood red carpet that looks newly placed in the room. The walls are a fancy beige color with unnecessary red curtains hanging from them at select distances apart. Scattered around the massive room are randomly placed poker tables; some of which have angry looking people playing poker. To his left, Gabriel can make out a small bar and a few slot machines. To his right is a long snake like black couch that surrounds the perimeter of the right half of the room. Along the border of the outstretched couch, Gabriel can see small, round tables; most likely used to hold the occupant's drinks. It looks like a small casino had sprung out from underneath the club.

About ten feet to the right, Gabriel can see an isolated spot on the couch. "Over there," he nods his head in the direction of the seat and they make their way over to it. Once seated, Riley unhooks her arm from Gabriel's and places her small, black purse on the table.

Noticing the purse, "Is that all you brought?" He looks over at her with a puzzled look. "Did you bring a gun?"

"Of course I brought a gun," she whispers. "You think I'd come here without backup?"

"There's no way a gun can fit in that," he looks over at the purse. "Unless it's on you," he glances over at her with a smug smile on his face. "But where would you put it?" he looks her up and down, "It's such a tight dress." That got him a slap on the shoulder. "Ouch!" he laughs as he continues to contemplate where her gun is hidden. "Are you wearing a thigh holster?" Riley narrows her eyes and glares at him. "That's so hot," Gabriel feigns a gasp, "Why Mrs. Vaughn, are you trying to seduce me?" This gets him a kick in the leg and a glare from his partner.

"First of all, don't ever call me Mrs. Vaughn again," she scowls at him, "ever." Gabriel continues to wear a smile on his face but nods. "Second of all, that is none of your business."

"Ok, just one more question," not even waiting for a response he asks, "is it the police issued thigh holster, or the sexy lacey kind." The soft blush on Riley's face told him the answer and he begins laughing. Another kick to the leg. "ouch," he laughs, "but so worth it. You know I don't think I've ever seen you blush before."

Riley rolls her eyes at his comment but subconsciously lowers her face away from him. "Can we get back to work now?" Just as she says it, she notices one of the undercover CIA agents look over at them and freeze. 'Well that's odd' she thought. She nudges Gabriel and signals him to look in the direction of the CIA agent. "Do you see how surprised he looks that we're here? It's almost like he didn't know we were coming," she whispered to Gabriel who nods in agreement.

"It almost seems like he was expecting John and Kim" Gabriel watches as the CIA agent quickly looks away from them.

"That's impossible, the other agents didn't know who else was involved; he couldn't have known them." Riley whispers back.

"Come on lets go look around," He stands and offers Riley his hand which she takes. "How good are you at poker?"

Riley puts on a sly grin, "let's just say I have a good poker face." Gabriel lifts his eyebrow in amusement.

As they head over to the poker tables they notice more and more people staring at them. When they find a table with two unoccupied seats, they take the two spots. Around their table is a fierce looking Asian woman with long black hair, probably around 25, a bald older man, and a very muscular younger man.

"How's it going?" Gabriel says in his usual charming attitude, "mind if we join you?" The table doesn't look impressed; in fact the black haired woman gives Gabriel a nasty look. Ignoring the unwelcoming response, "Me and my lovely wife here are lookin' to play some poker."

Seeing how everyone at the table was getting annoyed by Gabriel's pathetic attempt at small talk, Riley grabs the cards from the older man's hands and starts shuffling the deck like a pro. The older man gives Riley an unnerving glare but she doesn't even flinch. Once she's finished shuffling, she starts dealing the cards, and Gabriel's eyes go wide. The way Riley was dealing the cards, it looked like she was throwing ninja stars at each of them, but like a flying saucer, the card would stop right in front of their faces and land perfectly in a pile in front of them. Looking around, Gabriel notices the other members of the table look at Riley with a hint of astonishment. The muscled guy even smirks a little as Gabriel, to his dismay, notices him looking Riley up and down seductively.

Riley's face never falters. Throughout the game, Gabriel glances over at her periodically wondering where on earth Riley had learned to play like this. It's so strange seeing this new side of Riley, it makes Gabriel wonder what other sides he hasn't seen yet. After three games and $25 thousand dollars in Riley's winnings, everyone at the table seems on edge. Riley, not having changed her expression since she had first taken the cards, stands up abruptly. "Let's go," she orders as she grabs Gabriel's hand, barely looking back the table she says "good game," and she and Gabriel walk away towards the bar.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Gabriel asks once they're far enough away from the table.

Riley smirks, "Don't worry about it." Gabriel looks her over one more time.

"Who knew you were such a badass," Gabriel laughs, "man I think you scared the poor old man."

"The long black haired Asian woman, is part of the upper circle. She's the one we need to keep an eye out for. If the leader does show up here, he'll be with her." Riley ignores Gabriel's staring and continues, "The older man is her father, and the muscled guy is probably a cousin hired by the father for protection. Nothing to worry about except for his 2 loaded guns and pocket knife. The older man is packing a small gun in his left sock, and the woman is stocked in all things knives."

Gabriel just stares at her for a second, "How do you know all of that?"

"I take in my surroundings it's what I do" she says vaguely and Gabriel doesn't push it.

"Why is the woman so important?"

"She's the leader's wife." Gabriel gives her a questioning look and she explains "Did you see her ring?" Gabriel shakes his head no. "The ring she wore had the symbol of the highest ranking mafia member, usually worn by the founders of the mafia and passed down to their sons. The only way she would have it is…"

"…Is if she were married to one of the sons." Gabriel finished. "Wow, you got all of that from a few poker games?"

"What can I say? I'm just awesome," she shrugs.

Gabriel laughs, " I guess you are." They both just kind of watch each other for a moment then continue in the direction of the bar.

"Two beers please," Gabriel asks. As the bartender, goes to get their drinks, Gabriel notices the CIA agent from earlier staring at him and whispering something into one of the Chinese men. A sudden feeling of panic surges through him as Gabriel grabs Riley's hand and starts running towards an unknown hallway before the bullets start flying. "Hurry up!" he yells as the whole room starts firing in their direction. Gabriel leads them through one hallway and down another. He finds an open door and throws Riley in before making his way through the door and securing the lock.

Riley comes up behind him pushing a large dining room table and barricades the door. It's not going to hold, they both know it. Looking around, what seems to be, the storage room, Gabriel grabs a large box and starts making a barrier around the door.

"This isn't going to hold Gabriel! We need to get out of here!" Riley declares as she tries to find some way out of the room. "What time is it?"

Gabriel quickly glances at her with an annoyed face "You're asking me about the time? Do you really think it matters right now?"

"The satellite Gabriel! Can you see?"

Gabriel checks the signal to the satellite, "It's weak but I think I can manage." Just as he says it, the bullets come flying through the door. Riley grabs the back of Gabriel's shirt and pulls him behind the small fort she made. "Okay, I got something," he says just as a bullet whizzes through the air only inches away from his ear. "Come on!" Gabriel grabs Riley's hand and leads her to the back of the room where a ventilator opening lays dormant against the wall. The vent is big enough to fit through and Riley ushers Gabriel to get into it.

"What are you crazy?! Get in!" Gabriel orders at her.

"You're the one that I'm protecting; you need to get in now!" Riley tries to rebuttal but before she can protest, Gabriel easily picks her up and pushes her through the vent.

"Gabriel!" Comes her muffled response. Gabriel ignores her screaming and climbs in behind her. Before he closes they vent he places a few boxes in front of the opening to give them a little more time.

"Go straight, and take the first left," Gabriel orders. Riley does as she's told and finds herself at a two way stop. "Where to now? Left or right?"

"Take the right and keep straight until you pass two more turns," Gabriel advised. The hard metal feels cold beneath their fingers. The banging of their knees produced a muffled crunch that they pray doesn't travel to their enemies ears.

As she continues crawling, "What happened back there?"

"I think the CIA agent ratted us out, which means that we have some rouge agents on our hands."

"Are you positive? How could they have trusted the mafia if this is their first meeting?" Riley questions.

"I don't think it is"

"What do you mean?"

"Remember the recorded conversations in the file? Remember the puzzle box they were talking about? I think this place is the puzzle box." Gabriel says as they approach the end of the maze where a lone vent rests.

Riley looks through the vent to make sure no one is there, then pushes it open and climbs down. She moves over so that Gabriel can climb down. Looking around, she notices they're in some sort of basement. The floor and walls are cement and at the far end of the room is a red door.

"So you're saying that this isn't the first meeting? This explains why the agent looked surprised to see us. Looks like Lilian kept it a secret from the CIA too."

"Maybe she suspected it," Gabriel thought out loud.

"So why didn't the actual mafia recognize we weren't those agents?"

"I don't know, maybe they thought we were new. We did have the puzzle piece to get it." As the words left his mouth he had an unnerving thought. "If the CIA agents involved in this case are double agents, then where are John and Kim?"

* * *

A/N: Hey guys! I hope you liked it! So one of the reasons this chapter took so long was because I had the ending of this whole story pounding in my head and I just had to get it out, so I did... lol I kind of already wrote the last chapter even though I haven't written any of the middle chapters. OOPS lol but since I'm so excited about it and you guys have been so great, I wanna to give you a sneak peek of the last chapter. Don't worry it won't give anything away and its not even one of the exciting scenes. So if you want a sneak peek leave a comment to this chapter and I will PM you a copy of the scene. P.S. If you don't want a copy but you're just nice enough to want to review the story then just let me know in the review that you don't want the clip. Thanks you guys!


	4. Poison

Gabriel glances at Riley as he waits for Lillian to pick up the phone. Something seems a bit off. She's avoiding eye contact. "Riley are yo-" Gabriel gets cut off by Lillian answering her phone.

"Gabriel is everything alright? What's going on?"

"John, Kim, and the other CIA agents have been playing us. They're on the Triad's side."

Lillian audibly sighs into the phone, "I figured as much, that's why we've had John and Kim monitored for the past few days. Once you hooked onto the satellite's signal we knew something was wrong. So, Nelson tracked their location. They were trying to flee the country. We have them in custody now. Is everything alright with you and Riley?"

Gabriel takes his eyes away from Riley and focuses on Lillian. "We're ok, but we've been compromised. Right now we're in some sort of basement beneath the club. There's a door at the other end of the room which leads to a back entrance," Gabriel saw through the satellite. "It looks like there are three Triad members coming our way from the east." Gabriel runs over to the red door and examines it. "The door is made of high grade titanium, looks to be about 2 inches thick. It should hold off the guns for a while."

"That's good, I need you and Riley to stay put, no one leaves the room until I say so. You're in a very dangerous situation here Gabriel. I'm bringing in troops your way as we speak. Don't leave the room! Do you hear me?"

Gabriel makes sure the door is secure before walking back over to Riley. Right as he's about to answer Lillian's question, he sees Riley leaning on her side and blood running down her arm. "Riley!" He kneels down beside her and touches her arm. "Riley are you ok?"

She looks up at him with an amused smile. "You worried about me Gabriel?" She says in a sarcastic tone, but Gabriel's not amused. She sees his worried expression and tries to reassure him she's alright. "Gabriel I'm fine, look, see?" She shows him the wound. A bullet had wedged itself into the lower right side of her left shoulder. The wound is bleeding heavily, so Riley goes back to trying to stop the bleeding.

"Here let me help," Gabriel rips off a strip of his shirt and ties it around Riley's shoulder. Riley cries out in pain as he adjusts the makeshift bandage.

"What's going on Gabriel? Is Riley alright? Talk to me." Gabriel had almost forgotten Lillian was even on the phone.

"Yeah, Riley's been shot in the shoulder. I've bandaged it up but she's going to need to get it removed, it looks pretty deep." He looks at Riley, still carrying the worried expression on his face. "We need to get you out of here."

"Don't you dare move from that spot Gabriel! If Riley says she's fine then she's fine. I won't let you put yourself and her in danger because of your heroic nature."

Gabriel ignores Lillian and looks into Riley's eyes trying to find some answer. "Riley are you sure you're ok?"

Riley laughs nonchalantly to try to ease his tension, but he notices that it doesn't reach her eyes. "I'm fine Gabriel," he doesn't seem convinced, "really, I promise." She says with a sincere voice as she stares directly into his eyes.

Gabriel seems to ease a little bit and a small smile spreads across his lips. After reassuring Lillian that they would stay put, they got off the line and leaned against the wall waiting for the troops to arrive.

Gabriel leans his head back and tilts it towards Riley. He watches her play with the bandage a little then lean her head against the wall and tilt her head towards him. She sees him watching her and smiles. "What?" Her smile's contagious, and soon Gabriel starts smiling too. "What are you smiling at?" she says with a little laughter in her voice.

Gabriel just continues to watch her, unaware that she had said anything. "Hmm?"

Riley subconsciously wipes a few strands of hair away from her face and looks down towards the floor. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she says in a soft voice as her eyes travel back to meet his.

A quick expression of shock crosses Gabriel's face as he realizes what he'd been doing. "Oh, I'm sorry, I was just…"

Riley smirks at his embarrassment. "You were what Gabriel?" Now she has the upper hand.

"I… um… was just-" Gabriel started trying to explain but Riley interrupted.

Twisting her eyebrows in a questioning way, she smiles, "Gabriel, were you staring at me?"

"What? No! Don't flatter yourself…" He tried, but Riley already knew the truth.

She starts laughing at his discomfort. "I mean I now I'm gorgeous and all, but it's really rude to stare." She laughs harder.

Seeing a way to get the upper hand, he says, "You know that sounded a bit egotistical."

"Well I am Mrs. Vaughn after all," she stressed the 'Mrs. Vaughn' just enough to get a reaction from him.

"What ever happened to never calling you Mrs. Vaughn?"

"If I remember correctly, I said that 'you' couldn't call me Mrs. Vaughn."

"Oh, so you're ok with the name, you just don't want me to call you that? You'd prefer everyone else call you Mrs. Vaughn and me call you, what? Honey? Sweetheart?"

Riley rolls her eyes and laughs, "yeah that's exactly what I want Gabriel," she says sarcastically.

"Alright sweetheart," he says with a wink and a sly grin, "Whatever you say."

Before Riley could retaliate, gun shots start going off outside the safety of the room. Gabriel immediately, as if by instinct, jumps onto Riley to try to protect her from the oncoming bullets, but they never come. Once he realizes that the bullets haven't gotten past the door, he looks down at Riley who was now only inches away from his face. He sees her subconsciously glance at his lips for a second then look back up at him in surprise. They stay there for a second too long before Gabriel lets go of her and walks over to the door to see if it's holding against the attacks.

It takes a minute for riley to recover from what had just happened. He had tried to protect her, at the risk of his own life. He shouldn't have done that, he's the one that needs to be protected not her, she thought. Even though she knows what he did was wrong, she couldn't help the overwhelming feeling of security and protection from her partner. He would always protect her. Against her better judgment, she smiles at the thought.

Gabriel makes his way back to his original seat next to Riley and leans his head back making sure not to make eye contact. Then he waits for her to say it.

"Gabriel," she starts slowly, knowing that Gabriel would be expecting her to chastise him for putting himself in danger to protect her. He looks over at her with a strong and confident expression tattooed onto his face. He was ready to rebuttal whatever she was getting ready to say. Riley could tell that he didn't regret what he did, he would do it again. So, instead of telling him he shouldn't have done it, she looks at him with a gracious smile and say, "Th-thank you."

Gabriel's expression softens. He's just about to reassure her that he would do it again in heartbeat, when he notices Riley's eyes dilated and blinking in a slow beating pulse, almost like she's trying to stay awake. "Riley?"

"Ye-eah" She slurs as she tries unsuccessfully to keep her eyes open.

Gabriel immediately looks through the chip to find anything relating to dilated pulps, drowsiness and slurred speech. To his horror, everything he looks through points to one thing: poison.

Gabriel quickly moves over Riley and checks the wound; it's swollen and a rash is starting to spread. The bullet must have been laced with poison. "Riley!" no answer. "Riley you've been poisoned. I need to get you out of here."

"No… have t-sta… here," she mumbles with her eyes closed.

Gabriel stands up and pulls out his gun. "Stay here Riley and don't move. I'll be right back," he kneels down beside her carrying a terrified expression as he sees his partner turn pale. "I'm gonna get you out of her, I promise," he says as he gets up and storms to the door. Taking one last look at his barely conscious partner, he prepares himself for battle.

Looking at the satellite again, Gabriel sees three Triad members waiting at the door. He'd have to take them out then come back for Riley and escape through the back exit gates, which are about thirty feet away. Gabriel quickly opens the door and takes out one of the members before he has a chance to react. One down. He quickly closes the door as the other two members realize what had just happened. If he opens the door again, he knows they'll be expecting it, but he can't just sit here while his partner's dying. _Riley_.

He takes in a deep breath as the sound of bullets ricocheting off the door gets louder. He waits for a pause then opens the door just enough for his hand to point a gun at one of the members and shoot. Two down. He hears the last member call in for back up. _Crap_. Gabriel opens the door one last time and takes out the last member before he even has time to put away the walky-talky. Running back inside the room, Gabriel scoops Riley up in his arms and starts sprinting towards the door. Riley felt weak in his arms. She slowly takes her hand and places it on Gabriel's chest before it falls, and Riley goes unconscious.

Gabriel urgently calls Lillian as he starts mapping out his exit plan. He doesn't even wait for her to ask what's wrong before telling her what's going on. "Riley's been poisoned! I need back up now!"

Lillian, a little more urgently, "The team is on their way, just hold on and don't leave the basement!"

Gabriel makes his way through the gate and starts running in the darkness of the night to find cover before more Triad members come after them. "Too late, I'm already out of the building heading north towards the Leeman Building."

"What! Gabriel what are you doing?! You were safer in the building! Are you trying to get both of you killed?!" Lillian screams into the phone. "What good does this do? You can't run her to the hospital, and now you've got Triad members coming after you, what were you thinking!"

"What was I thinking? I was thinking that my partner was unconscious and dying as we sat there waiting for you to come for us!" He yelled, "And by the way, I would run to the ends of the world if it means saving Riley's life!" He pauses to let that statement sink in. It's true, he really would run to the ends of the world to save her. She's Riley, she's one of the most important people in his life, and right now she needed him. "The poison's working fast! Just get us help now!"

Lillian hadn't realized before how much Gabriel cared for Riley. Knowing there wouldn't be any reasoning with him, "Alright, get to cover and fast! The troops are a few minutes away, they're sending in an ambulance. She's going to be alright Gabriel."

"I know," Gabriel makes it to the building just as shots start pouring from the sky.


	5. Relax

**A/N: Hey guys! I tried to get this finished as soon as I could because it was technically supposed to be part of chapter 4, but it was just too long. WARNING: It gets pretty intense, I actually had to cut some scenes out because they were way too graphical. Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

**P.S. I wanna thank everyone who's been reviewing/following/favoring this story. You guys are the reason I keep making chapters. Thank You 3**

"It's been five minutes, where are they?" Gabriel looks down at his unconscious partner lying motionless in his arms. "Hang in there Riley, you're gonna be fine. I promise." He repeats the words she had told him earlier. _I'm fine… I promise_. The memory sneaks into his mind like a ruthless snake. Why hadn't he pushed it? Why hadn't he made sure the wound was clean? Gabriel mentally kicks himself for his ignorance. "I'm so sorry Riley; I should have made absolutely sure you were ok. Maybe I could have prevented this." He knew it was a lie, even if they had caught it earlier they would still be sitting somewhere waiting for Lillian and the troops. Still, he had known something was off, he could have done something! Gabriel sighs in frustration.

Another round of shots pour from the sky and Gabriel pulls Riley closer to him. They are hidden deep within an abandoned building, much farther than bullets can reach, but Gabriel isn't taking any more chances with Riley's life. Lillian was right, he shouldn't have left the room; at least if they had stayed in there, they would be protected from the Triad; as far as he knew anyway. Gabriel curses as the shots go off again. "C'mon Lillian," he whispers as he looks down at Riley anxiously. "Hang in there Riley, you're a fighter. Fight, please… for me."

Gabriel pulls Riley closer to him and listens for a heartbeat. Hope flutters through his veins as a slow, but steady heartbeat pours into his ears like forbidden music. "I need you," he whispers.

Another round of bullets bombards the building. Gabriel waits impatiently for this round of bullets to stop, but after a minute of nonstop thrashing, the bullets seem to double. Then, as if on cue, the bullets stop pelting the wall but continue firing. _What's going on?_

Gabriel carefully places Riley on a small, worn out couch in the room. "Hang in there Riley," he sprints to the nearest window and peers through, trying to find out what the Triad is shooting at. As he carefully looks through the shattered window, Gabriel can see the Triad members. Some are shooting, aiming at an unknown source of guns. Others are fleeing. But, most are dropping to the ground, dead. _Lillian._ Just as the thought enters his mind, a group of CIA agents fight their way into the building and quickly run towards Gabriel.

"Are you alright?" one of the agents asks.

"Riley's in the room, she needs medical assistance now!" Gabriel doesn't even bother answering his question; he just leads him to the room where he had laid Riley. "Make sure she's safe! She has to make it, do you understand me?"

The agent pushes past Gabriel, ignoring his rash orders, and starts calling for back up. Within a few seconds, Riley is being pushed out of the building safely on a gurney. "Make sure they look at her shoulder, its hurt pretty badly. And, tell them she's been poisoned, the poison entered her body around twenty minutes ago. She's been unconscious for about five minutes." Gabriel yells after them. If he's not gonna be the one to carry her to the ambulance then they'd better make sure they do it right. One of the CIA agents nods in his direction as they wheel her out of the building to safety. Gabriel makes sure Riley makes it safely to the ambulance before breathing again.

Outside, Gabriel can see the Triad and the troops fighting. Grabbing his gun, he storms outside and starts shooting at the Triad members. One crumbles to the ground, while another one falls off of a building to his death. One by one Gabriel shoots and takes them down. _They did this to Riley_. Gabriel takes out all his anger and frustration at the last thirty or so members of the Triad. Once all the members of the Triad flee and the troops stop shooting, all that can be heard is Gabriel's gun going off as he spits out every curse word known to man.

Lillian slowly approaches Gabriel and places a hand on his shoulder. "Gabriel, it's over." It takes a few seconds for the words to sink in, but Gabriel eventually stops shooting and lowers his gun. "She's going to be just fine," she tries to reassure him, but the second Gabriel looks towards her, she's taken aback. This man can't be Gabriel, he looks so weak. Lillian has seen Gabriel grieve, in fact, it's all she saw him do after Amelia died. But this, this is different. This man is broken.

"Is she ok?" The sounds coming out of him are feeble and wounded. His worn eyes turn a darker shade of blue as he waits for Lillian to answer.

"Some of the paramedics are behind the building waiting for you. Go get checked out and report to me when they clear you," she says, ignoring his question.

"Where did they take her?" A fire starts within his words as he stares Lillian down. "Tell me where they took her."

"Gabriel, I understand your concern for Riley, but right now you need to worry about your own health. Let the doctors do their job. Go get checked out, that's an order." She sees him turn away and start to leave, but she grabs his arm before he could. Gabriel stops but doesn't turn around. "Gabriel," she tries a softer method, "She's going to be ok. But, none of that will matter if you're not there when she gets better." No response. "She is supposed to protect you Gabriel, not the other way around."

Gabriel turns towards Lillian and pulls his arm away from her grasp. "Do you know what it's like to hold your lifeless partner in your arms? Do you know the agonizing feeling of helplessness that comes from not being able to do anything to help her?" He looks straight into her eyes. "I was watching her die, Lillian."

Lillian doesn't say anything. She just watches him walk away towards the building. She gives a sigh of relief when she sees him go behind the building, where the paramedics are waiting.

Gabriel walks behind the building and keeps heading east towards his car. He pulls up security feeds from near traffic cams until he finds the ambulance that took Riley. He zooms in on the license plate, then does a search to find out what hospital it belongs to. Riley is being held at Hope Zion hospital.

"Hey!" He hears someone calling. "Gabriel? Wait!"

Gabriel turns around and finds a paramedic running towards him. He doesn't have time for this right now, he needs to make sure Riley's ok. Without a second glance, Gabriel races towards his car and starts driving towards the hospital.

When he finally reaches the hospital, he'd been driving for thirty minutes. He's going to have to delete some traffic footage later. After sprinting into the hospital, he quickly finds the information desk. A lady with short blonde hair looks up from her desk and a shocked expression covers her face. "Sir, the emergency room is towards the left. I'm sure someone will get to you in a moment."

"What?" He looks down at his torn clothes. His once white shirt is now covered red with Riley's blood. "No, I'm fine, I need to know where Riley Neal is being held."

The receptionist doesn't seem convinced. "Sir, it would make me a lot more comfortable if you were checked out by a doctor before seeing a patient." Gabriel ignores the woman at the desk and walks towards the elevators. He hacks into the hospital's patient logs and looks for newly admitted patients. He scrolls down until he finds her name: Riley Neal, room 2486. He looks through the hospital's blueprints and finds her room on the second floor. After stepping onto the elevator, he pushes the button for the second floor, and waits to see his partner again.

As soon as he steps off the elevator, he makes his way to Riley's room. Gabriel takes a deep breath before entering the room, only to find that the room is completely empty. _Where's Riley?_ A nurse walks down the hallway and passes the room. "Excuse me!" Gabriel calls after her.

She stops and walks towards him. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"The person in this room," he points to the room, "her name is Riley Neal, do you know why she's not in her room?"

The nurse looks at him for a second, noticing his torn clothes. "Sir, I'm sorry I can't disclose any information about the patient to you; hospital policy. Although you look pretty beaten up, do you need me to find you a doctor?"

"No, you don't understand, I need to know where Riley Neal is, we were in an accident together," he lies, trying to get some sympathy from the middle aged woman.

The nurse looks down at her charts and finds Riley's status. A grim expression appears on her face. "I'm sorry sir; I still can't disclose personal information.

Gabriel quickly pulls up Hope Zion's patient information policy and finds a way to get clearance for Riley's status. As the nurse turns to walk away, Gabriel cries, "wait! You don't understand, I'm her husband, see?" He shows her his left hand where a gold ring lays on his finger. Lillian had given him and Riley a pair of gold rings to wear undercover. The mission is finally working in his favor, because as soon as the nurse sees the ring, she explains where Riley is being held.

After fifteen minutes of pacing in the waiting room, Gabriel sees Lillian, Nelson, and Dr. Cassidy walk into the room. They make their way to where Gabriel is pacing back and forth, and stand next to him. "How is she?" Nelson is the first to ask.

Gabriel stares at the ground, "She's in surgery now, the nurse said she was barely breathing when she got here." Nobody says a word as they wait for Gabriel to continue. "The bullet was lodged deep within her shoulder and it was hard to reach, so they took her to surgery. She's been in there for an hour and a half." He pauses. "That's all I know."

"She'll be alright Gabriel," Dr. Cassidy reassures, "Riley's a fighter. You know that."

"I tired looking at the security cameras in her surgical room, but I just couldn't, it was too painful seeing her like that." Dr. Cassidy puts a hand on Gabriel's shoulder to comfort him.

After another five minutes of pacing, a doctor walks into the room. "Is anyone here for Riley Neal?" As soon as he calls, four eager faces greet him. "I'm sorry I can only speak to her husband."

Gabriel moves forward and everyone stares at him, "It's alright they can hear too." The others don't say anything; they just wait for the doctor to speak.

"Alright then, well Riley's out of surgery and is being placed in her room as we speak." He directs his gaze at Gabriel, "There were a few complications." Gabriel's heart stops. The doctor notices his change in demeanor and quickly adds, "Nothing major, Riley should make a full recovery." Everyone lets out a breath. "The poison was a dangerous one, when she first came to the hospital, the poison had already penetrated her heart. It's a good thing you got her here when you did, otherwise we'd be having a completely different conversation right now." He notices that Gabriel is still tense. "Don't worry sir, your wife is gonna be just fine." He smiles, "You can see her after she wakes up." The doctor says before they nod at him, and he walks back into the surgical unit.

Everyone starts to ease up and smile. Dr. Cassidy goes up to Gabriel and pats him on the back, "See son? Your wife's gonna be just fine," he winks at him, "Relax Gabriel, it's all over." For the first time in hours, Gabriel smiles and relaxes a bit. It has been too long since he's had the chance to calm his body down. He can feel all the adrenaline escape his body and he finally relaxes.

"Gabriel!" Nelson screams as he sees Gabriel collapse head first onto the ground. A group of doctors run towards him and check his vitals. "We need a gurney stat! Man down!" One of them yells, as the others prepare to do CPR. The first doctor turns to Nelson, "What happened?"

"I- I.. don't know! He ju-ust collapsed!"

"His eyes are dilated, he's still breathing but it's shallow!" One of the other doctors says. "Wait, it looks like there's a bullet lodged in his leg."

"Oh crap, poison," the first doctor says as Lillian, Nelson and Dr. Cassidy look on in horror.


	6. Alone

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm so sorry about the long wait, but this chapter was hard to write. There may be some mistakes still in it and I'm sorry for that. WARNING: It gets a little emotional. BTW the (italicized) text are thoughts!**

**P.S. YOU GUYS ARE HYSTERICAL! I absolutely LOVED reading your reviews on Chapter 5! SO FUNNY! It made my day! Thank you to everyone who commented, you guys are awesome!**

**P.S.S. If you guys wanna watch the BEST fan-made Intelligence video go to youtube and search 'Intelligence Love Song' it should be the first one on the list. It's by ✧ Oulina ✧The video is called Gabriel and Riley ღ This Is My Love Song To You ღ Intelligence [1x02] Go and check it out it's awesome! The song she used is my new favorite!**

**But anyway…**

* * *

Riley scrunches her face at the obnoxiously bright light above her head. An agonizing ringing starts in her head as she wonders where she is. _What's going on? Where am I? _The events of the last few hours come flooding back to her in a painful stream of memories. "Gabriel!" She tries to scream, but her throat feels sore and no sound comes out. A searing pain in her head jolts her eyes open and she squints at the lighting in the room. _What's going on?_ The last thing she remembers is being trapped in the basement. Had the Triad caught her? _Where's Gabriel?_

Once her eyes adjust to the room, she looks around to try to figure out where she's being held. Her eyes are a little blurry, but she can make out a white room and a small tv hanging on the wall. After a few seconds she notices that she's lying down on a small uncomfortable bed. She tries to wipe away the blurriness from her eyes, but as soon as she moves her arm an excruciating pain spreads through her shoulder and make her cry out in agony. The pain feels like a thousand dull needles are being hammered into her shoulder at the same time. This time when she opens her eyes, she can make out a small woman in white by her side.

"Don't move sweetie, you're going to ruin your stitches," the small woman says in a soft voice.

_Ruin my stitches?_ She wants to tell the lady that she doesn't understand what she means, but her voice sounds hoarse and unintelligible.

"Shhh, it's ok you shouldn't be talking," the nurse notices Riley's eyebrows scrunch up in confusion. "You're in Hope Zion hospital. You were hurt pretty badly," she looks down at her chart, "looks like you were shot with a poisoned bullet."

_Poisoned bullet? Hospital? Oh no, where's Gabriel?_ Riley looks at the nurse urgently, trying to ask her where Gabriel is with her eyes.

The nurse, thinking she understands what Riley was asking, explains "Your shoulder was hit pretty badly. The poison was in your system for far too long. You're quite lucky to be alive." The nurse sees Riley shake her head slightly. "Let me get you some water; that should help you speak. Hold on for one moment." She says as she makes her way out of the room.

Riley sighs and tries moving her arm again as she waits for the nurse to come back. Another shot of agony courses through her body and she curses. Using her right hand, she wipes the sleep from her eyes.

The nurse comes back into the room with a glass of water and hands it to her. Riley gently lifts herself up with her right arm and leans her back against the bed frame. She can now see everything in the room. The door, to her left, leads into a hallway. To her right is a small couch and a night table. Riley takes a swig of the water and clears her throat. "Thanks" she says, testing out her voice. It sounds rough, but it'll do. She's just about to ask the nurse where Gabriel is, when she interrupts her.

"You have a visitor waiting for you outside, are you up for it?"

She relaxes a bit and smiles. It must be Gabriel. She knew he wouldn't just leave her here alone. Riley, carrying a smile on her face, nods anxiously at the nurse whom laughs and tells her she'll let them in.

As soon as Lillian walks into the room, the smile on Riley's face falters. She immediately straightens up, trying not to look as weak as she feels.

"How are you doing?" Lillian asks as she walks closer to the bed.

"I'm fine," Riley replies in a stronger voice. "Where's Gabriel?"

Lillian shifts her eyes away from Riley. "He's doing fine"

Riley shudders. The way Lillian isn't making eye contact convinces Riley that she's lying. "What's going on?" Riley says more urgently as she tries desperately to get up from her bed. "Where is he?" She curses when a jolt of pain runs down her left arm.

Lillian quickly walks over to Riley and gently pushes her back onto the bed. "Stay in bed Riley, you need to get better." She looks at her with an almost sad expression on her face. Something about her expression makes Riley comply without argument.

"What happened?" she asks softly as terror decorates her face. Lillian looks into her eyes for a few seconds then looks down at the ground.

"Once you were shot, I told both of you to stay in the basement and wait for back-up," Lillian begins as she pulls her gaze up to meet Riley's. "Do you remember that?" Riley nods and Lillian continues, "Well after a few minutes you went pale and passed out." She pauses for a second and watches Riley's expression turn from confusion to petrified. Riley continues the sentence in her mind.

"No…" Riley mumbles almost inaudibly. Lillian nods.

"Gabriel disobeyed my orders and ran out of cover. He took out the men near the door and carried you into an abandoned building"

"But, why would he do that? It would have been much safer to stay in the basement and wait for back-up. Why would he…?"

Lillian sighs and looks at Riley knowingly. "I think you know why," she says simply then waits for Riley's reaction.

Riley looks up at her confused, but Lillian continues looking at her, waiting. After a few seconds Riley's eyes shoot up in surprise. _Could she mean…?_

Lillian gives her a grim smile, "He thought he could save you somehow," she pauses, "you were dying in his arms."

That last sentence makes her body go numb. "Where is he?" She asks almost unwillingly.

"After the troops took over the operation, you were transported to this hospital while Gabriel stayed back," she pauses, "he took out half the Triad on his own. He looked… enraged." Lillian stops for a second and pictures Gabriel's face after she had told him it was over. She looks over at Riley, who's almost waiting for the bad news to strike. "I told him let the paramedics take a look at him, but you know Gabriel…"

Riley's face goes grim. She can guess what happened next.

Lillian notices her expression but continues anyway. "He ran after you to make sure you were safe. To make sure you were alive." She pauses. "After he came to the hospital and found out you were going to be just fine, he collapsed." Riley's right hand shoots up to her mouth to cover her shock. Lillian continues grimly, "He'd been hit while taking out his revenge on the mafia. The doctors say that his adrenaline had delayed the effects of the poison. Once he found out that you were safe, he relaxed and all of the poison came coursing through his body all at once." She hears Riley gasp and looks over at her. Her eyes were lining with tears but Lillian knew she wouldn't shed them, at least not in front of her. So she continues, "He hit his head as he fell," she pauses and looks straight into Riley's wide eyes, "Riley, Gabriel's in a coma."

* * *

It's been an hour since Lillian had left and the nurse is in the room trying to adjust the sling on Riley's arm.

"You know you shouldn't keep taking this thing off, it's only on to help get you better quicker," the nurse says but it fell on deaf ears. Riley isn't listening. She looks over at Riley and tries to cheer her up with a smile. "Is everything alright sweetie? Are you hungry? You haven't touched your food," the nurse looks over at the full tray of untouched food. Riley doesn't even register the nurse talking to her; she just plays with her fake wedding ring. The nurse notices her small quirk, "You're married?" she asks, "how long?"

Riley's expression shatters into a million pieces and a few tears escape her._ How can this be happening? Gabriel. This is all my fault, I'm so sorry._

"Oh no, sweetie I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you!" she grabs a tissue and hands it to her.

Riley takes it and curses at her fragility, she's supposed to be strong_. I was also supposed to protect him_. She sighs and wipes the stray tears away. She takes a deep breath. "Do you know where I can find him?"

"Find who honey?" She reaches over and takes the tissue from her to throw away.

"Gabriel Vaughn…" she hesitates, "my husband."

The nurse looks at her with pity, "Oh dear, you're Vaughn's wife?" Riley nods. "You know that man loves you. He made a scene in front of all the surgeons. Kept saying he wanted to be in the surgery. But, you know what? He sure did know his medicine. He explained to your surgeon exactly how he wanted him to perform the procedure. He even went as far as telling him that he wanted to do the procedure himself." Riley smiles as she pictures the scene in her head. "of course that wasn't possible, but he sure did try. You've got a really good man."

The smile on Riley's face slowly disappears and gets replaced with worry. "Is he doing alright?"

The nurse hesitates. "Everyone was shocked when they found out that he was poisoned too, it's amazing how it didn't affect him until he knew you were ok." The nurse places a hand over her heart." It's a real love story, like Romeo and Juliette.

Riley, against her better judgment, lets a small laugh escape her lips. "Love story? I doubt it," her smile fades, "But, he really is a good man." _And, I should have been there to protect him. Why would he run out into gunfire like that? Regardless, if it weren't for me, he'd have completed the mission without a problem. Maybe he was right, having a partner as back up isn't such a good idea after all._

"Yes, he is. He surely doesn't deserve the coma he's in." The nurse notices Riley look down in shame. "Oh, honey, don't you worry I'm sure he'll wake up anytime. A man that stops poison in its tracks just to make sure you're safe, won't want to be away from you for long," the nurse winks.

Riley's face turns a slight pinkish color. _Gabriel would have done that for anyone. 'Everyone goes home' that's what he would say. I'm no one special. He would have done it for anyone. Right?_ Riley shakes her mind of any wandering thoughts. "Can I go see him?"

The nurse looks at her for a few seconds, trying to decide if she should let her go. "You really should stay in bed, you just came out of surgery. It's hospital policy. I'm sorry, I can't let you leave"

Riley looks up at the nurse with a sad expression etched onto her face. "Not even for a love stronger than poison?" Riley almost shudders at how cheesy that sounded. She knows Gabriel would be laughing his butt off right now, if he were here. _Gabriel._

The nurse contemplates her options and after a few seconds, she sighs. "Alright, she says in a low voice. He's in room 2546, down the hall," she pauses, "are you sure you don't want to just wait until you're released later on today?" Riley shakes her head no.

"I need to see him now," she pleads, "I need to."

The nurse sighs, "Alright, but if you get caught, I wasn't the one who gave you his room number, understood? Riley nods and offers her a small smile. "Alright well I better leave, before this blows up in my face. Give him a kiss for me." She winks at an embarrassed Riley and leaves the room.

Riley quickly but carefully takes the sling off of her shoulder and pulls both of her legs over the bed. She has to hold onto the bed when she first steps off, but after the dizziness fades, she slowly makes her way to the door. Peeking outside of her room, she makes sure no one is there and starts making her way to Gabriel's room.

As soon as she reaches room 2546, she freezes. She takes in a deep breath, and opens the door. The sight of Gabriel's pale face lying in a hospital bed is almost too painful and she nearly backs away from the door. But, she doesn't. "Gabriel," she whispers to no one in particular, she just needs to say his name. She slowly inches forward towards him. When she reaches his bedside, tears are threatening to fall. He looks so pale. This can't be her partner. This can't be Gabriel. Machines are hooked up to him left and right; one to monitor his breathing and another for his heart. Riley pulls up the chair near the wall and places it near his bed. She takes a seat and immediately covers his left hand with her right one.

"Gabriel?" she says softly, but a lump in her throat makes it inaudible. "I'm so sorry," she says as a tear falls from her eye. "I'm so sorry," she repeats, "It's my fault. I should have protected you. I should have done something." Even as she says it, she knows it's not entirely true. She was unconscious, she couldn't have helped. But still. "If I hadn't been with you, you'd be home right now. You were right; having a partner endangered both of us. Please wake up." She waits for a response, but it doesn't come. "Gabriel…" she whispers inaudibly.

"Riley," Lillian says from behind her as she clears her throat. How long has she been there?

Riley quickly wipes away her tears and straightens up. She turns around in her chair to face Lillian. "Yes," she says with as much strength as she can muster at the moment.

"Can I talk to you outside for a moment?" Lillian asks. She doesn't even wait for a response before walking out the door and waiting for Riley. Once Riley joins her, Lillian takes a deep breath and looks directly at Riley. "You and Gabriel…" she begins but can't quite get it out, "are getting pretty close."

Riley's expression turns to confusion. "We're partners"

"No," Lillian interrupts, "you're not. That's exactly my point." She takes a deep breath. "Riley I hired you to be his protector, not his partner or his friend." Lillian sees Riley's face slowly turn into anger and she back tracks a little. "What I mean is…" she pauses, "Riley do you remember why I hired you to protect him?"

"Yes, you wanted me to make sure he didn't get hurt or somehow lose the chip." She answers a bit dryly.

"And?"

"And to keep him from Amelia."

"Exactly. I wanted you with him 24/7 to make sure that above all, he doesn't do anything stupid and get himself killed over Amelia." Lillian finishes.

Riley looks at her confused, "I don't understand what you're getting at." She states bluntly.

Lillian takes a deep breath and explains, "Riley, Gabriel shouldn't have gotten out of that basement. He should have followed my orders," she pauses, "he knew that he should have stayed in hiding, but he didn't and the only reason for that is you."

"Me? I was unconscious, I couldn't have possibly stopped him," Riley says, trying to defend herself.

"This has nothing to do you what you could have done, Riley."

"I don't understand…" Riley starts but Lillian interrupts her.

"Riley," she explains, "you're his new Amelia."

It takes Riley a few seconds the wrap her mind around what Lillian had just confessed. The look of disbelief was imminent on Riley's face. "Lillian, that's ridiculous, Gabriel and I are just friends."

Lillian shakes her head slowly. "Riley, when you were taken away in the ambulance and Gabriel stayed back; he ran into the line of fire and started shooting at the Triad uncontrollably." Riley nods, Lillian had already told her this. "Even after the fight was over, he continued shooting, cursing them for what they did to you." Lillian looks at Riley with a brush of sadness in her eyes. "I've never seen him so desperate in all the years I've known him. Riley he got shot trying to get back at them, for what they did to you."

Riley lets the words sink in. Why would Gabriel do that? _Why didn't he just go straight to the hospital?_ _Did he really do this for me?_ Riley's face scrunches up in concern, "I'm sorry… I should have-" Lillian interrupts.

"Don't you be sorry, this wasn't your fault. Gabriel just gets too attached to people he cares about," She makes sure Riley understands, "There was nothing you could have done, don't blame yourself." Riley nods grimly. "Unfortunately," Lillian continues hesitantly, "I can't have this happen again. With Amelia it was bad enough, but with you… its different, you're with him all the time. He can easily get himself and you into trouble."

"I can protect him," Riley says firmly.

"Not always," Lillian pauses and looks Riley directly in the eyes, "Riley, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to let you go."

* * *

**A/N: SOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOO What'd you think? Let me now by placing your possibly angry comments down below. Hope you liked it! Next will be up sooner I promise!**


	7. The End

**A/N: Just don't hate me ok?**

* * *

It's five o'clock in the afternoon when a loud, shrill alarm jerks the nurses into action.

"Room 2546, he's waking up," a young nurse exclaims at the group of nurses near the station. Two of the nurses rush into the room and try to keep the fidgeting Gabriel still.

"Sir," one of the two nurses says, "you need to sit still, you're going to tangle your wires!"

Gabriel blinks, trying to get a grip on reality. Once he realizes he's in a hospital, he stops fidgeting. "What's going on?" he asks in a low garbled voice. "Why am I here?" The events leading up to his black-out, come rushing back to him. "Riley!"

"Gabriel," one of the nurses warns, "I need you to relax. Your friend is fine. She was discharged a few hours ago. You blacked out last night from a poisoned bullet. Do you remember any of this?"

Gabriel tries to process all the new information he's getting, but his mind isn't clear. "Where is she? Is she safe?"

"Don't worry, she left the hospital a few hours ago, she's just fine."

Gabriel relaxes at the nurse's comment and settles back down in his bed.

"What is the last thing you remember?"

It takes him a few seconds, but eventually Gabriel's able to recollect everything about that horrible day. "I remember the doctor telling us that Riley was ok," he pauses, "that's all."

"That's completely normal, nothing to worry about," the nurse pulls out a small medical flashlight and checks his eyes. "Alright everything seems to be good so far, I'm going to need to run a few test, but from what I can tell, you're golden for a man who just came out of a coma."

"A coma?" Gabriel stutters, "I was in a coma?"

"It was an outcome of prolonged exposure to the poison that was in your system, luckily for you, it only lasted a few hours. You're very lucky Mr. Vaughn."

"Poison? I don't remember being shot"

"Yes, the adrenaline in your system at the time, caused your body to withstand the poison and the pain caused by the bullet."

Gabriel is just about to ask the nurse a question when Lillian walks into the room. "Gabriel," she makes her way to the side of his bed. "How are you feeling?"

Gabriel rubs his eyes to get rid of the blurriness. "Like a million bucks," he mutters, "where's Riley?"

Lillian pulls a chair up to his bed and sits down. The nurses take that as their signal to leave the room.

"Gabriel," she pauses, "the mission wasn't a success. Nelson's been picking up communication signals from the Triad since the incident," she says, trying to avoid the question, "you have a target on your back, Gabriel. We're putting you in a safe house effective immediately. As soon as you're discharged, you're going into hiding until we find Sum Ting Phun."

"We have a target on us?" he pauses, "where are we going?"

Lillian looks away from him for a second then turns back to him, "Gabriel, Riley won't be joining you."

"What do you mean? The Triad saw us together, she needs to be protected too," He says with a puzzled expression etched onto his face.

"Unfortunately, Riley has been," she looks away, "relieved of her duties. She will go into hiding as well, just not with you. Don't worry she's going to be perfectly safe," she tries to soften to blow.

Gabriel's eyes shoot up towards her, "What do you mean Riley's been 'relieved of her duties'?"

Lillian sighs and keeps her eyes away from him. "Riley doesn't work for us anymore; she is no longer responsible for your safety."

"What!" Gabriel's anger rages in front of her. "You fired her?! After everything that's happened, after I take a bullet for her and fall into a coma. You go and fire her?!"

"That's exactly why I'm firing her Gabriel, you've become too attached. You're putting your life in danger for her. YOU are the one who needs protection, not her," she defends.

"If you fire her, then you better take the chip out of my head and fire me too, because I won't be working for you anymore," he says in a concluding tone.

"Gabriel, this is for your own safety, you can't tell me that she doesn't distract you."

Gabriel looks into Lillian's eyes, "So you fired her because she distracts me? She's my partner Lillian."

"I'm not saying you can't see her anymore, in fact, you can marry her for all I care. I just can't have you put yourself in harm's way when she's around."

Something about the words 'marry her' deteriorates his resolve. Would it be selfish of him to be ok with Riley losing her job if it meant he could have her in his life a different way?

Lillian sees him contemplating her last sentence, "Gabriel I'm not re-hiring her, no matter what you do. She can be in your life some other way but she's no longer a co-worker," she pauses and watches as he grips with this new reality. "You're new bodyguard will accompany you to your safe house."

"No," Gabriel states firmly, "Riley and I will go to the safe house together; otherwise I won't comply with this new bodyguard. If you want to fire Riley, then fine, but she will be in my life one way or another but, as for this new bodyguard, I will not be going with him to the safe house. I will be going with Riley."

"That's not happening Gabriel."

"If you want me to go with you, then yes it will. Riley stays with me until it's safe."

"You're not the boss here, I am. You follow my orders," she says in an irritated tone.

Gabriel's features soften a little, "Lillian, you just took away my partner, and I'm not even arguing with you, even though I should just quit right now. The least you can do is let me have a few more days with her, to say goodbye."

Lillian looks over at Gabriel; It's true she thought she would have to defend herself way more than she has. There should have been cussing, objects being thrown, and someone was going to pull out their hair, but Gabriel has taken the news much more maturely than she had anticipated. "Alright, Gabriel," she bargains, "You and Riley will both be transferred to the same safe house; but after this, Riley won't be your guardian any longer."

Despite the grim circumstances, Gabriel offers Lillian a small smile. "Thank you."

Gabriel sits on the couch in the living room of his new temporary home. He had arrived in Breckenridge, Colorado, about an hour ago and is now waiting for Riley to make an appearance. The safe house is a small wooden cabin located deep within the forest. It consists of two small bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, and kitchen. The living room has a small couch and a roaring fire in the fire place.

Gabriel looks over at the clock. Midnight. _Where is she?_

As if on cue, Riley burst through the door and locks it behind her. She turns around slowly and watches Gabriel get up from the couch and walk over to her, getting a little too close. At first she doesn't know what he's doing, but the second he wraps his arms around her, she leans into him. They stand there for a few seconds before she pulls away and takes a seat on the couch. She smiles towards Gabriel and nods her head toward the couch to signal him to join her.

He joins her on the couch places his hand over hers. "Riley," he starts, "I'm so sorry."

She laughs a little. He was the one in the coma, and he's apologizing? "For what, Gabriel? You didn't do anything. If anyone should apologize, it should be me. If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be limping right now."

"You're right Riley, it's all your fault. You just HAD to get shot didn't you? You just have to show me up," he says sarcastically with a laugh, "It's no one's fault," he shifts his body towards her. "Riley, you shouldn't have been fired."

Riley shifts her eyes away from him and focuses on the fire burning in the small fireplace in front of them. "No, Lillian is right. Me, protecting you," she looks back at him, "it's getting, harder," she pauses and looks down at the ground.

Gabriel reaches over and gently pulls her chin, so that she's facing him again. "Why is it getting harder?" he asks softly. He doesn't stop pulling her, even when she's only a few inches away. Riley doesn't move, she just allows herself to be pulled into him.

"Well… because…," she whispers, "we're getting… closer," she says as Gabriel stops pulling her only centimeters away from his face. She subconsciously shifts her eyes towards his lips, then back up to his eyes.

Gabriel leans in and right as their lips are about to touch, a loud crash jolts them apart and into defense mode. The door had been rammed in and two large men now make their way into the small cabin. Gabriel immediately jumps in front of Riley to protect her but she pushes him behind the couch and jump in after him. They pull out their guns and wait for a fight. These are Triad men.

They hear the two men laugh. One of them starts talking to Gabriel. "Thanks for the GPS signal, it was a lot of help." Then all that can be heard are gun shots going off.

Riley screams in agony near him and Gabriel quickly rushes towards her to see if she's alright. The men had shot her; this time, in the chest. Gabriel huddles his body over hers as a shield. The men are still shooting at the couch.

"Riley!" Gabriel cups her face, "Riley, stay with me." He sees her bewildered eyes look up at him. They look almost… sad. Gabriel's rage takes him over and he jumps from behind the couch and shoots both the men down. They collapse to the floor, a bloody mess.

Gabriel pushes the couch away from Riley and places his hands over her heart to start pumping her chest. Riley's eyes slowly start to close. "Riley!" He cries, "Stay with me! Please!" He pumps harder and harder until he feels Riley's hand on his bloody one.

"Gab- stop," she tries to say, but she's too weak.

"No…" Gabriel whispers, "no, you can't leave me, please…" tears start welling up in his eyes, blurring his vision.

"Ga-riel… listn t-me," she tries to say, "yo- need t-know," she stops to cough and a gush of blood falls out of her mouth. A few tears fall from her eyes as Gabriel reaches over to wipe them away. "Gabr-l, I-I lo-ov-ve…."

"Yes?" Gabriel whispers, still not fully grasping the reality of the current situation.

Another cough escapes from her lips before she finishes, " Apr-il- f-oo-l's d-day."

Just as her body goes numb, she hears Gabriel whisper through his tears, "me too."

* * *

**A/N: APRIL FOOLS! HAHA! You should have seen your faces! (lol) This is definitely NOT a real chapter, I just wanted to give you a special something on April Fool's Day. I do it because I care! I hope you enjoyed your small heart attack, please don't kill me, and stay tuned for the next (real) chapter coming soon to a computer screen near you!**

**P.S. Let me know if I got you, and be honest!**


	8. Warmth

**A/N: Hey guys! As promised here's the new chapter. For anyone who didn't read the author's note on the last chapter, all you need to know is that it was fake. Ch 7 was a joke. So, disregard everything you read in it. This chapter picks up right after Ch 6. Enjoy!**

* * *

Riley yawns as her eyes slowly flutter open. The pain in her left shoulder reminds her where she is. She slowly lifts her head up off of the warmth it had been lying on. When she looks around, Riley notices she's in Gabriel's room, lying lazily on top of his chest. Did she fall asleep on his chest? She looks over at her watch, 8:38 p.m. She's been asleep for two hours.

Riley looks over at the sleeping Gabriel; his skin has more color in it than it did this morning. _Gabriel's getting better_. She smiles as she reluctantly pulls her body off of his. Another yawn escapes her.

She spends a few minutes just watching Gabriel sleep. If it weren't for the grim circumstances, the action would seem romantic- to an outside viewer of course. Riley would never think anything between her and Gabriel could be romantic. Or it least she couldn't have; not when they were partners. Now, Riley is having trouble understanding her feelings for Gabriel. Now that she doesn't work with him, could they be something more? Does she want that? A warmth spreads through Riley's body and she smiles- she of course refuses to take that as an answer.

Riley hesitantly moves her hand towards his face and cups the side of his cheek. Using her thumb she rubs small circles into his skin. "Wake up Gabriel," she whispers.

A soft knock on the door surprises Riley and she jumps off of Gabriel. She looks at the intruder with a deer-caught-in-headlights look on her face; her cheeks a bright pink color.

The nurse smiles at her embarrassment and walks into the room. "You don't have to stop on my account, I know I wouldn't," she winks at her, which only makes Riley blush more. It was the same nurse that had taken care of Riley. She looks over at Riley and frowns, "Haven't you gone home yet? Sweetie, when prince charming wakes up over there, he's going to be expecting Cinderella. Look at you, you're a mess."

Riley looks down at her clothes. When she was discharged this morning, she couldn't wear the black dress she came in with because it was covered in blood, so the nurses gave her a pair of scrubs to wear. She doesn't even want to imagine what her hair and make-up look like. "I can't leave him. What if he wakes up without me?"

"Honey that man will be waking up with you for a long time," she winks again and laughs as Riley blushes for the third time in the last few minutes. "He can manage to miss this one. Go take a shower, nap a few hours, then come back. I'm sure he'll be waiting for you."

Riley looks back at Gabriel and contemplates whether or not to leave. She doesn't want him waking up alone, but she definitely doesn't want him to see her like this either. Maybe she can go home, take a shower, and change then come back. That should only take her an hour; he wouldn't even know she was gone.

Riley looks back at the nurse and smiles, "Alright, I'll go." She stands up to leave, but before she walks away, she bends over him and places a kiss on Gabriel's cheek. To convince the nurse of their marriage, that's what she told herself. She blushes self-consciously at the smiling nurse and starts walking towards the door. Before she steps out of the room she turns around, "I never got your name."

"Rachel," the nurse smiles.

"Thank you, Rachel," Riley says before walking out the door and making her way home.

When she gets home, she notices that her apartment feels foreign to her. She hasn't been here in days. The last time she was here, she was getting ready for the mission. Riley sighs at the memory. She goes into the bathroom and takes a shower. Once she's finished, she gets dressed and lies on the bed. The events of the last few days start to replay in her head and she begins to feel extremely tired. Within minutes, she's fast asleep.

* * *

Lillian takes a seat near Gabriel's bed and watches him sleep. It's been hours since she's last seen him. Riley had been with him since she fired her and Lillian didn't want to disturb her time with Gabriel. She feels awful for firing her of course but looking at Gabriel's lifeless form reassures her that the decision was sound.

There are so many things she wants to tell him, the first being that she's sorry about Riley. She knows he's going to fight for her. Lillian knows he's going to hate her but somehow, she needs to convince him that the decision is for his own good. She's grown fond of him over the years and she can't imagine seeing him go through what he went through with Amelia again.

"Gabriel," she whispers, feeling self-conscious about talking to his sleeping form. "I need you to wake up. I need you to be strong," she pauses, "If not for me than for Riley. She needs you."

Lillian stays with Gabriel a few more minutes before Dr. Cassidy and Nelson show up at the door.

"Do you mind?" Dr. Cassidy asks as he walks a few steps into the room.

"Of course not," Lillian gets up from her chair and walks towards the door.

Before she leaves, Cassidy places a hand on her shoulder, "he's going to be fine, Lillian." She nods, and makes her way out of the room with Nelson following.

Cassidy takes a seat near Gabriel and places a hand on his arm. "How's it going Gabriel? I'm not sure if you can hear me now, but I know you'll be using the chip later on to find out what happened when you were in a coma. So I guess I better keep this clean, huh?" he chuckles at his joke. "Gabriel, you sure have made a mess around here. Lillian's worried sick about you. She keeps asking me if there's some way to program the chip to wake you up," he laughs. "I keep trying to tell her it's not possible, but you know Lillian," he pauses. "Don't even get me started on Riley. You know, she's been by your side since the second she opened her eyes. She misses her partner, and we miss our friend," he sighs, "Gabriel you know you're like a son to me, and as my son I gotta tell you you're being a pain in everyone's ass."

Cassidy notices a smile spread on Gabriel's face as his eyes slowly open. A laugh escapes Dr. Cassidy's lips, "Well good morning sleeping beauty."

Gabriel chuckles roughly and clears his throat. "Where's my kiss?" he asks in a throaty voice.

"Yeah, you won't be getting that from me, but I think if you play your cards right you might get one from your wife," he winks at him with a chuckle.

"Here's hoping," Gabriel laughs. "What's going on? Why am I in a hospital bed?" He says as he quickly scans the last 24 hours of his life with the chip. He scrunches his face in confusion after replaying the scene of Riley talking to him a few hours ago. "Why did everyone keep telling me to wake up?"

"Gabriel you've been in a coma for the past fourteen hours, everyone was trying to get you to wake up."

"Oh," he looks through the hospital footage of himself collapsing onto the floor and flinches at the sight. "Wow, I took quite the fall," he tries to sit up in his bed, but a shot of pain runs up his leg. "I'm guessing I was shot in the leg?"

"That would be correct," Cassidy informs.

Gabriel continues looking through his memory with the security footage and smiles as he watches Riley kiss his cheek. He's going to need to thanks Rachel for her colorful commentary. He replays the scene a few more time before putting his attention back onto Cassidy.

"Something in there you liked?" Cassidy smiles knowingly.

Gabriel is about to make a comment, when Lillian and Nelson walk into the room.

"Gabriel!" Nelson exclaims as he walks up towards the bed. "How's it going man? Is your beauty sleep over?" He laughs.

"I don't know, how do I look?" Gabriel laughs as he models his face.

"You look good Gabriel," Lillian steps in, "and now that you're awake, there's a lot I need to inform you of."

"Pfft, buzz kill," Gabriel mocks with a crooked smile.

Making sure that Gabriel was ok; Dr. Cassidy and Nelson say their goodbyes and head back to CyberCom, giving Lillian and Gabriel some privacy.

Gabriel straightens into a sitting position and waits for Lillian to speak.

"Gabriel," she sighs, "you know your safety is my number one priority." Gabriel nods. "I'm very happy to see you're awake and well." He smiles at her. "There's a lot I need to catch you up on, starting with the mission. The CIA has been tracking the Triad ever since you and Riley penetrated their hide-out. We got word a few hours ago of Sum Ting Phun's whereabouts. It turns out after the big blowout The Triad was too busy staying alive, to try to cover their tracks. So, even though this whole thing was a mess, the mission turned out to be a success."

"That's great! See, and you were worried!" He smiles that charming smile and it almost breaks Lillian's heart knowing that his smile was about to be wiped clean off.

"Unfortunately," Lillian continued cautiously, "because of recent events, Riley will… no longer be your guardian." Her heart nearly drops when she sees his shattered expression.

"What? What do you mean she's no longer my guardian? You fired her?!" He spits.

Lillian nods, "I have good reason for it Gabriel," she tries but Gabriel isn't hearing her anymore. "Gabriel, she's too much of a distraction."

"Too much of a distraction? That's your reasoning? She puts her life out in harm's way every day for me, and you're going to fire her because she distracts me?!" Gabriel's blood is boiling with anger.

"Gabriel, try to understand, you're getting too close to her! You're putting your life in danger for her!"

"My life is my choice, Lillian. You may have authorization over the chip, but you, in no way, control me!"

"My job is to keep you safe, and that's what I'm doing."

"Your job is to keep the CHIP safe, not me. Don't fool yourself, if it weren't for this chip, you'd fire me too." He says angrily.

"That's not true Gabriel, I care for you," Lillian says in a hurt tone. How can he think she doesn't care for him?

"If you want the chip to be safe so badly," he says, ignoring Lillian's last sentence, "then take it. I don't want it. I quit."

"Gabriel!" She warns, "Quit acting like a child! This is your job. She was a guardian, and now she's not." She waits for his response but it doesn't come. She waits for both of them to cool off before speaking again, "Gabriel, please try to understand," she says softly. "I just don't want to see you go through what happened with Amelia, all over again. Don't you remember how it felt? You almost threw you're life away because of her."

"And, Riley saved me," he says in firm tone. "I would be dead right now if it weren't for her."

"I understand that, but the more attached you become to her, the more you'll risk your life to protect her," she says calmly.

"I will risk my life for everyone I care about. That's who I am." He looks her straight in the eye. "I'd risk my life for Cassidy, Nelson, and you too Lillian. Would you fire them too?"

"Riley's different."

"You're right, she is. Out of the people I just named, she's the only one who would do the same for me. She would put her life on the line if it meant protecting me, and she has. You couldn't find a better guardian if you tried," he says, trying to reason with her. "It's not a weakness Lillian, getting attached, it's a strength."

Lillian looks into Gabriel's determined eyes and sighs. Did she really think she could pry them away from each other? He's right. She couldn't find a better guard for Gabriel.

Gabriel sees her resolve break and he offers her a small smile. "I need her Lillian, you know that."

* * *

Riley is jolted awake by the shrill sound of her phone ringing. Grunting, she reaches for her bedside table and answers. "Hello?" she says in a tired tone.

"Hey Riley, it's Nelson, I just called to tell you that Gabriel's awake. Figured you'd wanna know."

Riley's eyes pop open and she quickly sits up in her bed, making the room spin for a few seconds. "Oh no, I fell asleep!" She's wide awake now, "How long has he been awake?" She asks as she jumps off of her bed and grabs her keys.

"Not long maybe half an hour. Last I saw him, he was talking to Lillian."

"Thanks Nelson," She says her goodbye and heads out the door to her car.

It takes her a good twenty minutes before she gets to the hospital and once she parks she runs inside and heads to Gabriel's room. She freezes when she sees Lillian make her way out of Gabriel's room.

Lillian watches Riley walk cautiously towards her and stop a few feet away from her.

"I'm not leaving Lillian, you may be able to fire me, but you can't prevent me from seeing him." Riley says firmly.

Lillian smiles inwardly and softens her expression. "Riley, I want to apologize for my rash decision earlier. I was terrified that Gabriel wasn't going to wake up. With the chip being so new, it was a possibility that Gabriel could have stayed in the coma forever. I can't risk losing him," she pauses, "he's a great man."

Riley nods slowly, still confused as to what's going on.

"You're his new Amelia, Riley," she says in a softer tone and looks deep into Riley's eyes. "He needs you." Riley's heart starts pounding a mile a minute. "You're not fired Riley, I couldn't possibly keep him away from you." She smiles at Riley's flushed face. "He cares for you too much," she says as she goes around Riley and makes her way to the elevators.

Riley stands there, shocked, for a minute. Her heart is beating out of her chest when she hears Gabriel say her name from his room. She takes a few steps and stand at the doorway to his room.

Gabriel sits on the side of his bed with a charming grin on his face. "Missed me?" He asks as he stands up and walks a few steps towards her.

Riley brings her right hand up to her mouth as the overwhelming feeling of relief overtakes her. She runs up to Gabriel and wraps her arms around him, making sure not to hurt his leg or her arm. They stand there holding each other for a few minutes, neither one of them wanting to let go.

Riley's the first to pull away. She keeps her head low until the tears that were welling in her eyes subside. Then she looks up at him and smiles. "Wow, looks like that beauty sleep didn't really do much for you did it?"

He laughs, "Maybe not, but that kiss you gave me earlier sure did," he winks at her and laughs at her shock.

"Were you awake then?" She says as she gets ready to smack him.

He laughs, "No," he taps his head, "built in surveillance, remember?" He watches her blush and smiles. "Didn't know you were such a terrible kisser." She smacks him and he laughs. "You could always try again?" He says as he pretends to pucker his lips.

Riley rolls her eyes, "In your dreams."

"Count on it," he smiles as she rolls her eyes again.

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys! I can't believe that the next chapter is gonna be the last :'( We've been through so much together; I just can't imagine my life without you guys, (sniff). Please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of this chapter. And thanks again for reading my story! Love you guys!**


	9. I Want To

**A/N: Hey guys! Before you read this last chapter I want you guys to know that I have no plans to continue writing fanfics. Not because I don't love this show and writing about it, but because I'm fresh out of ideas :p If you guys have any random plots you'd like to share with me, I'd really appreciate it!**

**P.S. If you guys haven't already, go and check out anyadoll. She is a super awesome writer and her stories are to die for!**

* * *

After Gabriel is discharged from the hospital, he and Riley make their way to his apartment. The car ride is quieter than usual and Gabriel notices Riley's mood change as she starts to get lost in thought. At first, she was happy to see him, and they were joking around like usual, but once Gabriel had brought up Lillian, Riley's expression changed, and she seemed to distance herself from him.

"It's been a long few days" Gabriel says as he and Riley walk into his apartment. The last few days are still fresh in their minds.

Gabriel holds the door open for Riley until she is completely through the door, then he closes the door and drops his keys in a bowl and watches Riley make her way to the kitchen counter and sit down. Before he goes to join her, he stops by the refrigerator and grabs two beers. He walks over to where Riley's sitting, hands her the drink, and sits down beside her.

She nods in gratitude, "Thanks." Riley keeps her head down and stares at the open beer bottle in front of her. Everything from the past few days is still active in her mind.

Gabriel looks over at Riley and just watches her for a minute or two. He can't imagine everything she's gone through the past few days. He has no way of knowing what Lilian said to her, but whatever it was it really did a number on her.

"It's not your fault." He's been saying that to her for the past hour, but it just doesn't seem to sink in. He watches for her reaction, but it doesn't come. She just stares at the beer bottle silently. He remembers everything Riley had said to him while he was in a coma. Why did she blame herself so much? Could it have been something Lillian said? "Riley look at me," he pleads, but she doesn't respond. "Riley…" he reaches over and places his hand over hers. The action seems to take Riley out of her trance and she looks up at him. He can see everything in her eyes. The calm, the loneliness, but mostly the guilt, he sees it all. "It's not your fault." This time when he says it, he stares straight through to her eyes and says it with a strong, confident voice. She needs to know that he doesn't blame her for what happened; that if anything, he's awestruck by how brave and loyal she is.

Riley keeps eye contact with him for a minute before nodding slightly and placing her attention back to the beer bottle. She feels Gabriel's hand slip away and from the corner of her eye she notices Gabriel get up from his seat beside her and walk towards the living room. A small part of her wants to turn around and see what he's doing but she just can't get herself to do it. With everything that's happened, all she wants to do is escape into her mind and never come out.

After a few seconds she can hear music playing. Then she can feel Gabriel's presence behind her, begging her to turn around. Slowly, she looks up and sees Gabriel's hand outstretched towards her. For a split second she thinks about taking his hand and forgetting everything, but she can't.

"Can I have this dance?" He waits for her to turn towards him and look into his eyes before he kneels down beside her. "I want you to dance with me," he says with a charming smile. "Please?"

Riley shakes her head no but he can tell there's a hint of a smile in her eyes. "Gabriel, you shouldn't put stress on your leg, besides, you know I don't dance"

"Not even with me?" He says in the most sincere face he could muster. This earns him a smile from Riley who turns her head away slightly to hide it, knowing if Gabriel sees a smile on her face she would lose the fight. Unfortunately for her, it doesn't go unnoticed.

Gabriel reaches over to her with his outstretched hand and gently turns her face toward him. When their eyes meet, Riley immediately sees the smile on his face. He knew he'd won. So, she allows him to pull her off the seat and walk over to the living room. There, Gabriel spins her around, takes her hand and begins dancing.

The song isn't a slow one; in fact it is one of the songs on his workout mix cd. At first their dancing is slow and not to the rhythm of music, but eventually they start to sync with the beat. Gabriel can see that Riley is starting to relax. He spins her around suddenly and Riley can't help but laugh at his awkward dancing style. The second Gabriel hears her laugh, he starts spinning around and dancing like a maniac, taking her with him in the process. "Gabriel your leg!" She warns.

A sudden feeling of happiness washes over her and she starts laughing. She laughs hard and strong. She lets everything from the past few days escape from her in a fit of uncontrollable laughter. The pain of not knowing whether or not Gabriel was going to make it, all the blame she felt for having been the reason for Gabriel's injury, and Lillian's confessions to her, they all seem to melt away.

Round and around he spins her until he feels that all her anger and resentment has left her. And, when he looks into her eyes a second time, he notices almost all the hurt and sorrow replaced with relief and a little bit of joy. So he smiles and he makes sure she sees it, because with everything they'd been through, she deserves a little bit of happiness.

They go on dancing for a good ten minutes before they both start getting tired. As the music subsides, their footsteps begin to falter and Gabriel trips and pulls down Riley with him. Gabriel lands hard on the floor with Riley landing on top of him. They both look at each other for a second then burst into a fit of laughter. After a few seconds, Gabriel stops laughing and just stares at Riley as her laughing continues. He could see now how much freedom she feels from having all that weight lifted off her shoulders. _She is so beautiful._

As Riley's laughter begins to slow, she notices Gabriel watching her. She tilts her head a little subconsciously and just keeps looking at him. When her laughter stops she notices Gabriel's eyes shift down to look at her lips, then slowly travel back up to her eyes. All of a sudden the only sound that can be heard is the sound of them breathing. Riley doesn't look away, even though she knows she should. But, she can't, his eyes are so hypnotizing. Without even noticing it, she moves her head closer to his. Only when she sees a certain spark in Gabriel's eyes does she realize that she is on top of him with their faces only a few inches apart. In a sort of panic, she starts picking herself up off of him.

Gabriel sees the panic in her eyes and watches her lift herself slowly from him. But, without even hesitating, he grabs on to her hips at the last second and pulls her down on to him again. The only thing Gabriel can see now is Riley's in-shock face and her long, straight hair, surrounding his head like a comfortable shield. Seeing a strand of hair fall into her line of vision, Gabriel takes his free hand and moves the stray away from her face but instead of pulling his hand away, he keeps it there and cradles her cheek. For a second, he thinks she's going to push him away, but she doesn't. She just stays there staring at him.

Blood runs to her ears and all she can hear is the sound of her heart beating. Her eyes quickly flicker down towards Gabriel's lips before finding their way back to his eyes. "Gabriel, what… are you doing?" she faintly hears herself saying in a hushed tone, her eyes never leaving his.

It takes Gabriel a second to process the fact that she had spoken to him and another second to understand what she had said. "I just… I," he mutters as his eyes flicker down towards her lips and become permanently glued there. They both lean in closer. Gabriel can see Riley's hair closing in around him. "I… want.."

All of a sudden, a loud, shrill ringing, jolts them back to reality. Riley quickly jumps off of Gabriel and runs to answer the phone. Gabriel, needing a second to process what had just happened, slowly rises from the ground. He looks over at Riley who seems to be just as perplexed as he is. When she's finished with the phone call, she walks over to him slowly, never making eye contact. He can tell she's embarrassed by what had just happened.

"That was Lilian, she… um… needs us back at Cyber Command," she says as she makes her way towards the door.

"Of course she does," Gabriel mutters under his breath. What would have happened if Lilian hadn't interrupted their moment? Would they have kissed? Is that a good thing? Before he had time to think about it, he reaches over and grabs Riley's hand, stopping her in her tracks. She slowly turns her face towards him, scared of what might happen next.

"I want to" he simply says. He knew she'd understand what he meant. That what he wants is to kiss her.

Riley inhales silently and looks down at their linked hands; then she finds his eyes. "We have to go," she says quietly as she pulls away from him. He understands. It's too soon, too strange to even be having this discussion. But, he can't help but feel a little hurt by the rejection.

Before she reaches the door she turns around and smiles at him, hoping that he understands that she can't just jump into this. Hoping that he'll forgive her so that they can move on. And, when she sees him smile back at her, she knows.

As Gabriel's closing the door, "I hope you know that when I cyber render this later, we make out."

* * *

**A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed the story! Unfortunately I have some disturbing news. It turns out that CBS has decided to cancel Intelligence. It's not "official" yet, but if there's any hope of renewing this awesome show, we need to start e-mailing CBS and telling them to renew the show, or at least give it to another network. Intelligence has already been sold to a UK network called Sky1, they are very hopeful for the show. If ratings are better in the UK, they might renew the show for a second season themselves, who knows. But, as of right now, CBS will not give us a second season. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you should all know so that we can band together and fight to get it back!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this story! Let me know if you have any plot ideas you'd like me to write about. Thanks for reading!**


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